Improvement in portable storage-tanks



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IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE STORAGE-TANKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,983, dated March 4,1879; application filed August 29, 187e.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS B. RITER, of the city of Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Portable Tanks for Storing Oil and other Liquids 5and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is an elevationof a portable tank embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionof the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, and Fig. 4 is a detailview.

Like letters refer to like parts wherever they occur.

My invention relates to the construction of sectional tanks for thestorage of oil, and for other purposes; and consists in a segment orsection for the construction of oil and similar tanks, said sectionbeing of the general form or outline required by its location, whetherin the bottom, top, or body of the tank, but of special constructionthatis to say, composed of a plate devoid of angles or flanges, and securedto a border of angle-iron, with which a tight joint is formed in anysuitable manner, but preferably by calking, as in boiler-building.

The main object ofthe present invention is to supply the oil-producerwith convenient and durable portable tanks at a reasonable price. Y

The tanks now in general use in the oil region for the storage of oilare of two classes, namely, those ranging from five thousand (5,000) totwenty-ve thousand (25,000) barrels, and those ranging from one hundredand ifty (150) -to fifteen hundred (1,500) barrels. The trst mentionedare the usual fixed storage-tanks, and are made from plates riveted andcalked in the usual ymanner of 'forming boilers. They arequiteexpensive, owing to the amount of labor involved in riveting andcalking, and as the size of the tank decreases the cost of manufacture(per barrel) increases, rendering it practically impossible toeconomically manufacture small tanks in the same manner. The secondreferred to is the small portable tank, and is '1n general constructedof wooden staves, hooped and otherwise coopered in the usual manner.Practically speaking, there is a limit in the size such tanks can onceget to leaking they have to be coopered and gaged anew, which in itselfis a matter of much trouble, annoyance, and frequently of loss.

So far as I am aware, there has not heretofore been devised any means of building such tanks or similar vessels, which combined cheapness inproduction, capability of being set up and taken down by inexperiencedworkmen, compactness when stored or during transport-ation, andcapability of increasing or decreasing the capacity of the tank withoutaffecting its general construction.

Certain constructions for analogous articles, which embody some but notall of the features indicated, havebeen heretofore devised, as, forinstance, gasometers, 85o., have been formed from sections consisting offlan ged plates backed by independent pieces of angle-iron, which servedto stiffen the structure and afford support in bolting the segments; butthe main objection to such construction is that the plates require to beeXtra large in order to allow for the Hanging; and it is well known tothe manufacturer that as the size increases the number of perfect platesdecrease and the loss from trimming increases. To this should ,be

-added the loss from waste metal in the dan ge,

which adds nothing to the capacity of the tank.

A minor objection is the difficulty of hangin g curved plates.

Another instance of somewhat analogous construction is where barrels,&c., have been made in sections, such sections constituting half orquarter barrels formed of plate metal, strengthened by and connected toangle-iron butin such instances the section constituted more than asingle portion of the barrel or and a portion of the head were combinedin a single section, so that the size of the vessel was predeterminedand unalterable.

The relation of the angle-iron to the plate (upon both surfaces) alsocompelled portions of the vessels to be packed from the interior, andthe general form of the sections precluded packing or nesting to thebest advantage.

Before proceeding to describe my invention more specifically, Idistinctly disclaim the constructions recited in the foregoing review ofthe art.

I will now proceed to describe my invention, so that others skilled inthe art to which it appertains may apply the same.

The form of the plate will be, as a general thing, determined by theposition the segment or section is to occupy in the tank,.as indicatedby a f 1T, and its size will be determined by the number of segmentsinto which that portion of the tank is to be divided and the capacity ofthe tank.l

For the body of the tank a rectangular plate, a, of such size that agiven number will y form a tank of the required capacity, is selectedand riveted by its edge or edges to a border, b, of angleiron, as at cc, one surface of the plate being applied to one flange of the border b,(see Fig. 4,) and packed against the same to make a tight jointtherewith in any suitable or well-known manner, but preferably bycalking against the angle-iron in the same manner as the sheets of aboiler are calked. A series of the segments a may then be boltedtogether by the free flanges (l of the angle-iron, to constitute thetank-body, a packing of paper, felt, rubber, or equivalent materialbeing inserted between the sections to insure tight joints.

the sections a may be employed to increase at will the height of thebody and the capacity of the tank.

The bottom of the tank is formed from similar plate metal bordered onone or more sides by the angle-iron, (here indicated by g.) to one langeof which the plate f is riveted, and a tight joint formed by calking orotherwise, as in case ofthe section a of the body ofthe tank. Thesesections will be trimmed so that when in position they will form abottom corresponding to the shape of the tank, and as the periphery ofthe bottom will rest upon or against the angle-iron border of thebodysec tions a, and be sufficiently supported, angleiron need not beapplied thereto.

The cover-sections of the tank will be of a general quadrilateral form,as indicated by i,

One or more tiers of narrowing or tapering toward the center point ofthecover, and are usually provided with the border of angle-iron only onthree sides, the fourth side, as in the case of the bottom sections,being supported by the free flanges of the border of the body-sectionsa, when the fourth side border is omitted. If the cover C of the tank iscomposed of a single series of sections, as shown in the drawings, theborder ot' angle-iron on the short side of the quadrilateral ispreferably so shaped as to form the border of the man-hole D.

In forming the several sections or segments a t' f, plate metal of anydesired thickness may be employed, and a great saving of metal and timewill result, as the loss of time and metal by iian ging, fbc., isavoided, and the work can all be done at the shop 5 but to still furtherdecrease the cost of manufacture, I prefer to use plate metal as low asNo. 16, (one-sixteenth of an inch,) which can readily be done, as theangle-iron border will support the plate and give a solid body to calkagainst.

The segments or sect-ions having been constructed substantially asspecified, (the general form, of course, varying, as and for the reasonherein specified,) they may be nested in small space for purposesoftransportation, and, when desired, the tank can be quickly setup byunskilled labor, any suitable number of tiers, a, being used in the bodyto obtain atank ofthe desired capacity. The segments or sections areconnected by bolting through the free lianges of the border, and thejoints between the sections or segments are made tight by theiuterposition of packings of felt, rubber, paper, or equivalentmaterial, as before specified.

Having thus set forth the nature and advantages of my invention, what Iclaim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A segment or section adapted to form one portion of a tank or similarVessel, (as, for instance, the bottom, top, or body thereof,) saidsection or segment consisting of a plate provided with a border of angleiron, to one flange of which the edge of the plate is secured so as toform a ti ght joint therewith, the plate being devoid of au gle or iiange, the whole constructed substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof' I, the said THOMAS B. RITER, have hereunto set myhand.

THOMAS B. RITER.

